After the death of Lachlan Mor in 1598 and the MacDonald succession crisis, various MacDonald claimants to Islay contested crown authority throughout the early 1600s. In 1605 a MacDonald of Islay defied a government summons and fortified Dunnyveg Castle against a government agent sent to enforce crown rights. This act of defiance triggered the more sustained government effort that eventually took Dunnyveg in 1614 and transferred Islay to Campbell control. The 1605 defiance was the last moment when the MacDonalds might have negotiated a settlement preserving their Islay base.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near this battlefield